TOGO HEIHACHIRO, KOSHAKU

(Marquess) born Jan. 27, 1848, Kagoshima, Satsuma province, Japan died May 30, 1934, Tokyo admiral who led the Japanese fleet to victory in the Russo-Japanese War. In the process he developed new tactics for closing with an advancing enemy fleet. Togo studied naval science in England from 1871 to 1878. Upon his return he was appointed a lieutenant first class. After serving in a number of naval posts, he was appointed commander in chief of the combined fleet (December 1903) and was made an admiral in 1904. As commander in chief of the Japanese navy at the outbreak of the war, he directed the 10-month naval blockade of the great Russian military base at Port Arthur (now Lshunk'ou, on the Yellow Sea), helping to bring about its surrender on Jan. 2, 1905. In desperation the Russians dispatched their Baltic fleet to Japan, confronting Admiral Togo's forces on May 27 in the Tsushima Strait, which connects the Sea of Japan with the East China Sea. Togo crossed the enemy's Ti.e., he turned his column across the Russian line of advanceand destroyed 33 out of the 35 Russian ships, ending the war. This spectacular maneuver was later used by the British and French navies. The victorythe first occasion in the modern era in which an Asian power had defeated a European nationforced the Western countries to begin to look upon Japan as an equal. He became chief of the Naval General Staff and war councillor to the emperor after the war. In 1913 he was promoted to fleet admiral. From 1914 to 1924 he was in charge of the education of Hirohito. History Until 1884 Togoland was an indeterminate buffer zone between the warring states of Asante and Dahomey. The only port was Petit Popo (Ancho, or Anho). Throughout the 18th century the Togo part of the Slave Coast was held by the Danes. German occupation German missionaries arrived in Ewe territory in 1847, and German traders were soon established at Ancho. In 1884 Gustav Nachtigal, sent by the German government, induced a number of coastal chiefs to accept German protection. The protectorate was recognized in 1885, and its coastal frontiers with Dahomey and the Gold Coast were defined by treaties with France and Great Britain. German military expeditions (188897) met with little resistance, securing a hinterland the boundaries of which also were determined by treaties with France (1897) and Great Britain (1899). Lom, at the western end of the coast, was selected as the colonial capital in 1897, a modern town was laid out, and in 1904 a jetty was built. Three railways were constructed to open up the interior. Exploitation was confined to the coastal and central areas and was exclusively agricultural. Plantations were established both by the government and by private German corporations, but crop development was left mainly to the Togolese, assisted by agriculturists trained at a college in Nuatja (Nots). Upwardly mobile Ewe were recruited into what was supposed to be Germany's Musterkolonie (model colony). Trade was chiefly in palm products, rubber, cotton, and cocoa. German administration was efficient but marred by its harsh treatment of Africans and use of forced labour. On Aug. 7, 1914, at the outset of World War I, British and French colonial troops from the Gold Coast and Dahomey invaded Togoland and on August 26 secured the unconditional surrender of the Germans. Thereafter the western part of the colony was administered by Britain, the eastern part by France. By an Anglo-French agreement of July 10, 1919, France secured the railway system and the whole coastline. After Germany renounced its sovereignty in the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations in 1922 issued mandates to Britain and France for the administration of their spheres. The economy To encourage private investment, the Investment Code of 1965 guaranteed foreign investors the right of freely transferring abroad all investment capital and income. The code also provided for tax benefits for priority enterprises. The trend in the 1970s of direct state involvement in the economy changed in the early 1980s to a pattern of offering incentives for foreign investment and privatization of state enterprises. Indirect taxes, almost entirely on imports and exports, account for most of the government's ordinary budget revenues. Direct taxes consist of an income tax, a progressive tax on all profits, taxes on wages paid by employers, a tax on rental values and land, and head taxes. Unlike other former French territories, Togo has not extended preferential trade treatment to France and subsequently to the European Economic Community. This open-door, nondiscriminatory trade policytogether with the expanded production of phosphate and tropical producehas contributed to the development of the economy. Resources Phosphate is the major mineral resource and by far the country's leading export item. The deposits at Hahoeto and Kpogam, directly northeast of Lom, are mined by the government's Togolese Office of Phosphates. Togo is one of the world's largest phosphate producers. Marble is quarried by Sotoma (Socit Togolaise de Marbres et de Matriaux), a mixed-economy company with shares held by the Togolese government and an Italian firm. Togo's considerable limestone reserves, also mined near Lom, are utilized primarily for cement production. Other mineral resources with commercial potential include iron ore, bauxite, uranium, chromite (an oxide of iron and chromium), gold, diamonds, rutile (titanium dioxide), manganese oxide, and kaolin (china clay). While the iron ore reserves are large, the metal content is only slightly more than 50 percent. The bauxite has a low mineral content. The land Relief, drainage, and soils Togo consists of six geographic regions. The low-lying, sandy beaches of the narrow coastal region are backed by tidal flats and shallow lagoons, the largest of which is Lake Togo. Beyond the coast lies the Ouatchi Plateau, which stretches about 20 miles inland at an altitude of some 200 to 300 feet (60 to 90 metres). This is the region of the so-called terre de barre, a lateritic (reddish, leached, iron-bearing) soil. Northeast of the plateau is a tableland, the highest altitudes reaching 1,300 to 1,500 feet. This region is drained by the Mono River and its tributaries, including the Ogou, and other smaller rivers. West and southwest of the tableland the terrain gradually rises toward the Togo Mountains, which run across central Togo from the south-southwest to the north-northeast. Part of a chain that begins in the Atakora Mountains of Benin, the range ends in the Akwapim Hills of Ghana. Mount Baumann (Agou), which rises to about 3,235 feet (986 metres), is the highest mountain in Togo. Beyond the Togo Mountains to the north lies the Oti River sandstone plateau. This is a savanna region drained by the Oti River, one of the main tributaries of the Volta. To the far northwest is a higher region of granite and gneiss; the cliffs of Dapaong (Dapango) are located in this region. Climate Togo has a tropical climate. In the south the rainy seasons occur from mid-April through June and from mid-September through October. The narrow coastal zone, which receives about 35 inches (890 millimetres) of rain annually, is the driest region. The region of Kpalim (Palim), about 65 miles inland, receives the highest amount of rainabout 70 inches annually. The north has only one rainy season with an average rainfall of about 45 inches, mostly falling from June to the end of September; during the rest of the year the warm, dry harmattan (a dust-laden wind) predominates. Mean annual temperatures vary from 79 F (26 C) along the coast and in the mountains to 82 F (28 C) on the northern plateau. Daily minimum temperatures of about 68 F (20 C) are recorded in the mountains in August. Daily maxima of about 100 F (38 C) occur in the north during March and April at the end of the long dry season. The people The population of Togo comprises about 30 ethnic groups, many of whom are immigrants from other parts of western Africa. The groups indigenous to Togo live in the north and southwest. The northern groups include the following Gur-speaking Voltaic peoples: the Gurma; the Natemba, Dye, Bu-Bankam, Bu-Kombong, and Konkomba; the Tamberma; the Basari; the Moba; the Naudemba (Losso); the Kabre and Logba; and the Namba (Lamba); a small number of West Atlantic-speaking Fulani; and the Kebu (Akebu). In the southwest the indigenous Kwa peoples also belonging to the central Togo group are the Akposo, the Adele, and the Ahlo. The immigrants came from east, west, and north. The Ewe, who emigrated from Nigeria between the 14th and 16th century, form the major ethnic group. There are also some scattered Yoruba, mainly Ana. Groups who emigrated from present-day Ghana and Cte d'Ivoire since the 17th century include the Ane (or Mina), the Ga-Adangme, the Kpelle and the Anyana, the Chakossi, and the Dagomba. The northern groups of the Tem (Kotokoli and Temba), Gurma, and Mossi came from the north, mainly from areas in Burkina Faso. Most of the nation's non-Africans live in Lom. Mainly French, they include a few mulattoes of Brazilian, German, and French ancestry. Brazilians, or Portuguese of Brazilian birth, constituted the original trading settlement in Togo, and today Brazilian mulattoes are closely associated with economic and political development. Although Christianity has profoundly marked the country, more than half the population still adhere to traditional animistic beliefs and in the south participate in voudou (voodoo) cults. The main Protestant (Calvinistic) church has been governed for a long time by Togolese moderators. Since independence, the Roman Catholic church in Togo has been headed by a Togolese archbishop. There is also a growing Islamic population.